New Guy - Atheist Nexus2015-08-02T22:11:18Zhttp://atheistnexus.org/forum/topics/new-guy?commentId=2182797%3AComment%3A2179750&xg_source=activity&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI was just standing there wit…tag:atheistnexus.org,2013-03-08:2182797:Comment:21797502013-03-08T14:37:24.182ZFuturehttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/Future
<blockquote><p>I was just standing there with a greasy face.</p>
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<p>I liked that line. I used to have to attend church as a child, but I have never had faith. I put up with all the shit that the Presyterian church was dishing out, but it was pretty non-intrusive compared to what you described. I think I would have had a very public meltdown if someone tried to make me participate in such a ridiculous custom as what you went through. Welcome to the rational side of the…</p>
<blockquote><p>I was just standing there with a greasy face.</p>
<p></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I liked that line. I used to have to attend church as a child, but I have never had faith. I put up with all the shit that the Presyterian church was dishing out, but it was pretty non-intrusive compared to what you described. I think I would have had a very public meltdown if someone tried to make me participate in such a ridiculous custom as what you went through. Welcome to the rational side of the internet.</p> I am really cautious about wh…tag:atheistnexus.org,2013-03-05:2182797:Comment:21768782013-03-05T00:39:09.711ZShillamushttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/Shillamus
<p>I am really cautious about what I say</p>
<p>I live near the Chesapeake Bay</p>
<p>People hate Nontheists here</p>
<p>They effectively tie them up and burn them at the stake by making sure they can't make an income</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Just Kidding.. most people seem reasonably tolerant of all faiths..</p>
<p>I am really cautious about what I say</p>
<p>I live near the Chesapeake Bay</p>
<p>People hate Nontheists here</p>
<p>They effectively tie them up and burn them at the stake by making sure they can't make an income</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Just Kidding.. most people seem reasonably tolerant of all faiths..</p> Welcome, Alex. Thanks for te…tag:atheistnexus.org,2013-03-03:2182797:Comment:21758442013-03-03T16:11:20.459ZDaniel Whttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/Daniel57
<p>Welcome, Alex. Thanks for telling part of your story.</p>
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<p>You are not going through a phase. Once someone knows the rational truth, you know it. Rarely someone will return to religion, but for the most part almost no one goes back.</p>
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<p>Militancy is understandable. It's hard to see the abuses, intolerance, manipulation, hypocrisy, inane silliness, judgement, agendas, and profiteering of religion and not be militant. But it's hard living a militant life. Can wear…</p>
<p>Welcome, Alex. Thanks for telling part of your story.</p>
<p></p>
<p>You are not going through a phase. Once someone knows the rational truth, you know it. Rarely someone will return to religion, but for the most part almost no one goes back.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Militancy is understandable. It's hard to see the abuses, intolerance, manipulation, hypocrisy, inane silliness, judgement, agendas, and profiteering of religion and not be militant. But it's hard living a militant life. Can wear you out.</p>
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<p>The important thing to know is you are not alone. There are great minds and generous hearts in the world with you. </p>
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<p>It's amazing how long we've been fighting religion. If you haven't read Robert Green Ingersoll, you might find it interesting. In the 19th century, he wrote many works on the topic, such as:</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/what_is_religion.html" target="_blank">"What is Religion"</a>: </p>
<pre> Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery. <br/><br/>It is far better to be free, to leave the forts and barricades of fear, to stand erect and face the future with a smile. <br/><br/>It is far better to give yourself sometimes to negligence, to drift with wave and tide, with the blind force of the world, to think and dream, to forget the chains and limitations of the breathing life, to forget purpose and object, to lounge in the picture gallery of the brain, to feel once more the clasps and kisses of the past, to bring life's morning back, to see again the forms and faces of the dead, to paint fair pictures for the coming years, to forget all Gods, their promises and threats, to feel within your veins life's joyous stream and hear the martial music, the rhythmic beating of your fearless heart. <br/><br/>And then to rouse yourself to do all useful things, to reach with thought and deed the ideal in your brain, to give your fancies wing, that they, like chemist bees, may find art's nectar in the weeds of common things, to look with trained and steady eyes for facts, to find the subtle threads that join the distant with the now, to increase knowledge, to take burdens from the weak, to develop the brain, to defend the right, to make a palace for the soul. <br/><br/>This is real religion. This is real worship. </pre>
<p></p> Welcome Alextag:atheistnexus.org,2013-03-03:2182797:Comment:21758362013-03-03T15:05:15.933ZJohn Aultmanhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JohnAultman
<p>Welcome Alex</p>
<p>Welcome Alex</p> Nice to meet you! Welcome to…tag:atheistnexus.org,2013-03-03:2182797:Comment:21753902013-03-03T03:46:17.992ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p>Nice to meet you! Welcome to the site. I hope you enjoy it here.</p>
<p>Nice to meet you! Welcome to the site. I hope you enjoy it here.</p> Welcome, Alex. Thanks for sh…tag:atheistnexus.org,2013-03-03:2182797:Comment:21753852013-03-03T03:40:08.120ZLilliehttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/Lillie
<p>Welcome, Alex. Thanks for sharing your evolution in rationality. Sounds a lot like my evolution and probably many others on N/V. I look forward to seeing more of your contributions.</p>
<p>Welcome, Alex. Thanks for sharing your evolution in rationality. Sounds a lot like my evolution and probably many others on N/V. I look forward to seeing more of your contributions.</p> Welcome Alex, great to meet y…tag:atheistnexus.org,2013-03-02:2182797:Comment:21751892013-03-02T21:27:14.330ZTammy Shttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/TammyS
<p>Welcome Alex, great to meet you! Your story about your militant period made me think of this quote for the SECOND time today (I just shared it on FB for similar reasons) but it seems appropriate to share again here:</p>
<p><span><em>‎"It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere."</em> - Voltaire</span></p>
<p><span>It took a while, a few years in fact, for my immediate family to come around and now my mom even records herself as a 'none' on medical forms. Though she's still a…</span></p>
<p>Welcome Alex, great to meet you! Your story about your militant period made me think of this quote for the SECOND time today (I just shared it on FB for similar reasons) but it seems appropriate to share again here:</p>
<p><span><em>‎"It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere."</em> - Voltaire</span></p>
<p><span>It took a while, a few years in fact, for my immediate family to come around and now my mom even records herself as a 'none' on medical forms. Though she's still a believer, having seen what some of the more zealous family members tried to do to me and my child, she decided religion was quite ugly and dangerous and she wanted no more of it. Many of my family members I no longer count as family and they know it. I told one in particular that I wouldn't stop and piss on her to put her out if I saw her on fire beside the road, in fact I'd probably throw lighter fluid at her and beep the horn! She tried to get my child taken from me and when that didn't work, she set about to poison her against me using her children as the go between. Lesson learned, family will do you first and you can choose your friends. </span></p>
<p>If they don't love you as you are Alex and accept your love without reservation, they do not deserve you. </p>
<p></p> Greets and salutes, Alex. We…tag:atheistnexus.org,2013-03-02:2182797:Comment:21751812013-03-02T20:25:43.612ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMiller
<p>Greets and salutes, Alex. Welcome to a place where people won't accuse you of going through a phase or hating a deity that doesn't exist or any one of the half-a-hundred other different specious things you hear from believers. That scene in the church had to be uncomfortable as all get-out, and if you took a powder from it and whatever belief it represented, you are hardly to be blamed.<br></br><br></br>In any case, we're glad you joined us! Do enjoy yourself here and if there's anything you need…</p>
<p>Greets and salutes, Alex. Welcome to a place where people won't accuse you of going through a phase or hating a deity that doesn't exist or any one of the half-a-hundred other different specious things you hear from believers. That scene in the church had to be uncomfortable as all get-out, and if you took a powder from it and whatever belief it represented, you are hardly to be blamed.<br/><br/>In any case, we're glad you joined us! Do enjoy yourself here and if there's anything you need by way of help navigating the site, give a shout!</p>